Private Chef

[Tentative opening: October 28]

Warm, unhurried beauty × roguishly handsome, sincere cool guy

Film department's campus belle × music producer

Study-abroad background / cohabitation turns official / simmering romantic tension / the irresistible reversal / 1V1 SC

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After her family went bankrupt unexpectedly, Su Jinyan's study-abroad funding was cut off, so she had no choice but to work part-time as a private chef, cooking in people's homes.

Unexpectedly, she got involved with Zhou Yubai, the most mysterious rich young man in the NYC student community. His life was all alcohol, nightclubs, heavy metal, and a devil-may-care smile.

She'd been a well-behaved girl who followed the rules for twenty years and had no intention of getting involved with a flirtatious playboy like him. But he relentlessly pursued her, offering an exorbitant salary with just one condition: she had to live in and make all three meals for him every day.

The flush of a hangover still on his face, he twirled a wisp of cold smoke between his fingers. "On call, day and night."

After a moment's silence, she stood up to leave. "Sorry, I don't like other people's smoke in the kitchen."

He chuckled, the smoke melting into his smile.

Later, the smoke and haze vanished from that townhouse. She served up one exquisite dish after another right on time, taming Young Master Zhou's picky stomach and sharp tongue.

Then one day, she accidentally left a pink note from a senior who'd asked her out in a bag of groceries. When she doubled back to find it, a black card had appeared on the kitchen island.

As she stood there in a daze, a pair of long arms circled her waist, his breath teasingly close. "If you need money, just ask me."

She paused. A reckless thought deep in her heart slipped free for a moment. "What if I want more than money?"

His breath caught. His perfectly defined lips pressed against the back of her neck, moving slowly along the stretch of fair skin at her collar.

"Yan Yan, what I want has never been just a meal."

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When Zhou Yubai first met Su Jinyan, he didn't think much of her.

Whoever heard of a home cook wearing a CHANEL suit and having a bewitching, seductive face?

He immediately decided she was pulling a fake-socialite routine. He didn't call her out, just threw out a cold remark and went back to his room to sleep.

The next time they met was at a nightclub.

She was dressed neatly in a pure-white Chanel-style outfit, like a perfectly symmetrical six-pointed snowflake, as she flew into a man's arms.

The sharp scent of tequila hit his tongue. Zhou Yubai narrowed his eyes, his mind filled with the bowl of crystal-clear, tea-colored soup she'd made that afternoon.

In that case, he might as well spend a little money and have some fun.

But she was just like her soup: slowly simmering over low heat, never reaching a rolling boil.

Listening to that irritating "glug, glug," Zhou Yubai's gaze toward the kitchen grew darker and darker. Does she not even know how to flirt?

One day, his friends were teasing him in their group chat again. "Leo, your 'private chef' is going to climb into your bed sooner or later."

His phone buzzed on the floor. The person nestled in his arms, who'd just dozed off for a moment, furrowed her brow. The thin blanket draped over her shoulder slipped, revealing suggestive red marks.

Zhou Yubai glanced at her, switched his phone to silent, and typed furiously. He typed and deleted until only one word remained: "Shut up!"

A moment later, another message popped up in the silent group chat.

"I'm the one climbing into her bed."

#A well-behaved Shanghai girl shaped by strict rules × an illegitimate heir from Beijing's social scene cast out by his family

Theme: Eat well and keep a positive outlook.